The Kirkus Prize is one of the richest literary awards in the world, with a prize of $50,000 bestowed annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction and young readers’ literature. It was created to celebrate the 81 years of discerning, thoughtful criticism Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry and readers at large. Books that earned the Kirkus Star with publication dates between November 1, 2015, and October 31, 2016 (see FAQ for exceptions), are automatically nominated for the 2016 Kirkus Prize, and the winners will be selected on November 3, 2016, by an esteemed panel composed of nationally respected writers and highly regarded booksellers, librarians and Kirkus critics.

KIRKUS REVIEW

Andrews draws on her experiences to offer strategies for living with
depression in this memoiristic self-help guide.

Suffering from depression for her entire adult life, Andrews had her first
manic episode at age 47 and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Her brother
also suffered from the condition, which, because it appeared much earlier in
his life, led to him being institutionalized. Andrews’ son has been diagnosed
as well. Now retired, after a successful life of work, children, and only one
manic episode, Andrews shares her relevant experiences in the hope that they
might help others: “I write this book for all those who find themselves
depressed...to let you know that someone understands how you are feeling and
that you are not alone in your suffering.” She takes the reader through her
history of various treatments, from support groups to medication to counseling,
some of which proved quite helpful and many of which did not. She details her
personal scale for depression and how she reacts to it on days when she is at
Level 1 versus days when she is at Level 10. The things she won’t do—smoke, eat
junk food, wallow—are often as important as the things she will do. Andrews
also invites the reader on a tour of her experiences with the disease in both herself
and in her family (the famous Tolstoy quote “All happy families are alike; each
unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” makes an appearance), analyzing the
moments that tipped her life toward the place she’s ended up. In this short debut book, Andrews eschews the navel-gazing that one might expect
from such a memoir, getting down to the bones of her disease and the ways she has
managed to work through it. Her chapter on “Strategies for Escape” is
particularly helpful, offering advice as practical as list-making and as long-term
as writing. (For Andrews, poetry was a particular boon.) The greatest takeaway
from the book is what an individualized experience depression is and how each
person must struggle to find a way out of the cloud. Luckily, there is help.

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